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23 September, 2011

I was early for Gail's Wildflower-Wednesday. Last week the flowers were foreign, today they are Proudly South African. Perhaps
the spirit of WFW is more about the wildflowers that would grow in my garden,
if nature decided. Yellow Oxalis. White
rain daisies on otherwise bare earth. In the damp hollows Melianthus and arum lilies. Where the winter rain leaves a few
inches of standing water, vlei lilies.

Most of my bulbs were grown from seed. Fairy
bells of Melasphaerula. White Babiana inherited from the previous
gardener. Vlei lilies, seed didn’t work, so I bought bulbs with delight, when I
found them. Arum lily snuck in with a Strelitzia.
Freesia alba once from seed, now self-sown. Dietes some inherited, some from seed, some as bulbs – but somehow,
they are all the same species.

16 September, 2011

The starring role in the garden now, is a
rowing-boat sized white daisy bush. I know where it comes from; the gardener at
my mother’s retirement village was ripping out wheelbarrows of the stuff. New
gardener’s eyes light up, and I brought a bit home. It sulks in summer – does an Estherism – not sure if it wants to go on growing. So I put it on life
support, water steadily thru the summer, feed a little in desperation. Once the
rain came, I turned away for a moment – and the blooming thing is as wide and
high as I am tall. Green fernish feathered leaves. Large white daisies on long
stems, ideal for picking. But only once, the flowers smell evil. Anyone know
what it is? A Shasta daisy? I know, despite the huge variety of South African
daisies, it isn’t one of ours.

09 September, 2011

Since we moved to Porterville the Ungardener
has hoped that one day, hiking up in the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area,
we would see Cape leopards. In the newsletter from the Cape Leopard Trust they recently
asked for volunteers. He spent a week at Driehoek in the Cederberg, which
flow on from our Groot Winterhoek mountains.

Mountain stream looking across to the Koerasieberg
at Driehoek in the Cederberg

Leopards and other predators are a problem for stock farmers. They were hunted and trapped. At Driehoek is an Anatolian shepherd dog.
Himself was dozing in his chair, when something leapt on his stomach. He woke
up thinking leopard!